We all struggle to get a good conversion rate on our landing pages. However, not many of us know and respect the power of certain design elements and principles that can sky-rocket the success of our website. In this article, I’ll tell you the best practices in order to send your average landing page to Conversion Paradise — simply said how to create a successful landing page.
Headline
The headline is the first and foremost element that pops in your users’ eye. At least it should be. Your headline must be very clear and concise — it has to communicate the message of your product/service.
Tips for a good headline
- Make it short and precise, get to the point without jabber.
- Your headline must be so clear that when a visitor comes to the site, they will immediately know where they are at.
- Use a big, bold text that pops out. Make it catchy with wise use of CSS.
Examples of good headlines
The unforgivable mistakes for headlines:
- However you play with font-size, font-weight and color, make sure it doesn’t talk down the CTA.
- Navigation
Navigation is a crucial part of any website. It’s like a map that the user is holding in their hands — if they know how to reach a certain page, they’ll probably visit it. If they don’t know where to go, they just hit the Back button and bounce.
Tips for a good navigation
- Make your navigation straightforward and easy to see through.
- Design all list items to look equal, this way you won’t confuse your visitors.
- Do not separate your main navigation into two pieces.
- Consider using a secondary navigation if your website requires. Make it clear which is the main and which is the secondary navigation.
- The footer of your website is a good place to put your subsidiary navigation elements like ‘Privacy Policy’, ‘Terms of Use’, etc.
Good navigation examples
The unforgivable mistakes for navigation:
- Make sure that all commercial pages can be reached within a maximum of 2 clicks from any other commercial page — but go for 1 if possible.
- Features List
A feature list is an essential part of your product’s or service’s landing page. It is a (mostly) unordered list containing all the features of your product.
Tips for your next features list
- Again, as always, keep in mind that your users have a limited time to spend on your website. Therefore, create your features list short and concise.
- According to the AIDA marketing principle, you may consider displaying the benefits instead of features.
- Tell only the most important and the catchiest features/benefits that will raise your visitors’ interest.
Great examples of features lists
The unforgivable mistakes for feature lists:
- Never have more than 5 features displayed on your landing page.
- Forms
If you want your visitors to subscribe to your newsletter, or if you want them to register, then a sign-up form is an essential part of your landing page.
Things to consider when building a sign-up form
- Ask only the amount of information that is crucial. try to avoid creating a sign-up form of over 3 fields! I would be annoyed if I had to fill a form having more than 3 fields, and trust me, neither would your visitors.
- Encapsulate your form properly. Make good use of white space.
- Make your input labels clear and easy to read. Let your users know exactly what and how to enter.
- Mark input fields that are required in a way your users will understand. A common practice is to mark required fields with an asterisk (*).
- Another good practice is to inform your users of their privacy. Let them know you won’t give out their email addresses (or any other sensitive data) to third parties.
Examples of good sign-up forms
The grave error of sign-up forms
- Don’t ever think of using a Captcha on your sign-up form! If you’re attacked with spam, consider other solutions to get rid of it.
- Call to Action [CTA]
Calls to Action are one of the (if not The) most important inbound marketing and design elements that a landing page needs for better conversion. A Call-to-Action (often referred to as CTA) is either a button, a banner or some kind of textual element that persuades users to click on it, thus making them a lead and then a customer.
What makes a good call to action?
- Make it stand out. Use a big bold font with a nice vibrant color, and make it big! Also pay attention to contrast.
- Make it an actual button. Use CSS’s features to give it a border, gradient, shadows, highlights… whatever suits your landing page’s design.
- Make the CTA text compelling. The actual text is everything. Don’t just simply type ‘Go’, or ‘Start’ – that’s boring. Good examples are ‘Take Our Quiz’, ‘Get a Free Consultation’ or ‘Offer Expires At Midnight’.
- Repeat your CTA throughout your landing page. Remember to always use the same styling for your call to actions!
Examples of good calls to action
The unforgivable mistakes for CTA’s:
- Use only one type of CTA. If you have to use more, don’t make them competing!
- Images
Images can add a personality to your landing page. Imagery is what makes a landing page unique and distinctive, otherwise, the majority of websites would look almost the same.
How to use images properly?
- Use images that are relevant to your product/service or your audience.
- Try to look for (or design) an image that is in harmony with your landing page’s color and design. For example, on a minimalist web design you shouldn’t use a 3D model, nor would you put a silhouette on a skeumorphic website.
- If your niche accepts it, you should also consider using images with people. Human photos have much more impact on the users first impression of trustworthiness.
- However, if you’re trying to sell a product, put images of the product instead of faces. People love to see the product/software they are about to buy in action.
- Don’t use too many images, it may create fuzziness.
- Speaking about images, you may want to include some of your happy clients’ logos on your landing page.
Good uses of images
The unforgivable mistakes for images:
- Never use images to display text directly. If you want to use a special font, consider using a proper font-replacement method.
- Video
Do you have a video? Even better! Whether it’s a professionally designed explainer video or a simple introductory one made with your home camera, videos are definitely going to sky-rocket your conversion rate.
Tips for a good video
- Make it short. Time is money, and your visitors are the best examples of it. Don’t use a video that takes more than 90 seconds. An ideal length is between 30 and 60 seconds.
- Present the product or service and nothing more. Don’t tell about your company history, no one is interested in that, really.
- An ideal video is able to replace all informational content on a landing page. Create it accordingly.
Great examples of using videos
The unforgivable mistakes for videos:
- Explain your product and no more.
Bonus Design Tips for Conversion
- Use proper HTML tags for your headings. Search engines love that, and proper semantics is a plus.
- Always add alt and title tags to your images. Search engines love ‘em, too!
- Make your body copy easy to read. Use a clear font, preferably a sans-serif for screens.
- Make up your paragraphs into a maximum of 4 lines. Users won’t read big blocks of text.
- Use white space wisely. Leave enough room around your coherent elements to separate them from each other.
- Keep the information flow straight. Design your landing page so it drives your visitors’ eye in a way you want. Keep the F- and Z-patterns in mind, too!
- Create a mobile version of your landing page, or even better, make it responsive.
Conclusion
That’s it. I hope you liked my first article at Higher Click. Stay tuned for more, and as always – sharing is caring. Thanks!
https://www.scribd.com/document/630587254/SEO
https://www.ted.com/profiles/31392142
https://www.4shared.com/web/preview/pdf/TxODKxb1ge?
https://www.buzzfeed.com/apkapk/seo-content-uu-uuuu-u-uu-8j0g1fynqs
https://www.kickstarter.com/profile/1681917454/about